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The CTA, the CA&E, and “Political Influence”

CA&E 453 in a winter scene on the old Met “L” main line. Here, we are looking east from Halsted. (Truman Hefner Photo)

Always on the lookout for new sources of information about electric railway history, I recently stumbled on one in an unlikely place- a book about politics.

Political Influence by Edward C. Banfield, originally published in 1961 by the Free Press of Glencoe, “examines the structures and dynamics of influence in determining who actually makes the decisions on vital issues in a large metropolitan area.” The book takes an in-depth look at how political influence was applied in the Chicagoland area during the 1950s.

In his introduction to the 2003 edition, James Q. Wilson writes:

Banfield wanted to know how concrete issues were really decided, and so he studied six major controversies in Chicago and drew his conclusions about influence from his detailed account of who did what for (or to) whom.

Civic disputes in Chicago, he concluded, did not result from struggles for votes, competing ideologies, or the work of a shadowy power elite; they rose instead from the maintenance and enhancement needs of large organizations. One organization (say, a hospital) wanted something, another organization (say, a rival hospital) opposed it. The resulting conflict had to be managed by an outside authority if it were to be settled at all, and in Chicago, politicians did most of the managing. But that management was hardly dictatorial. Though Chicago politics was organized around a powerful political machine, the machine did not simply impose its will. Instead, the mayor let every interest get its say, postponed decisions until some common ground could be found, and then nudged the contestants in the right direction.

Banfield devotes chapter 4 (pages 91-125) to the Chicago Transit Authority and attempts to convince the state legislature to subsidize it circa 1956-57. According the the author, these efforts were intertwined with trying to save the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin interurban.

The CA&E lost both riders and money due to construction of the Congress (now Eisenhower) expressway, starting in 1953. The project was expected to take five years, and CTA service in the expressway median opened on June 22, 1958. But by 1956, the railroad’s management wanted out, and the choices were either to sell or abandon service and liquidate.

At the time, the only public agency that could have operated “The Great Third Rail” was the Chicago Transit Authority, itself only about a decade old. Formed by combining the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the Chicago Surface Lines, the CTA had started out with high hopes that an aggressive program of modernization would yield cost savings that would eventually make it possible to lower fares for their so-called “OWNERiders.”

Unfortunately, things did not turn out that way. The new CTA bus routes in outlying areas lost money, and over its first decade, ridership declined by nearly 50%. There were various reasons for the decline, including the rise in automobile ownership, fewer people working on Saturdays, the effects of several fare increases, and service reductions.

Unlike the New York transit system, which received a government subsidy of $100m per year during the 1950s, Chicago got none, and had to sink or swim out of the farebox.

CTA fares had increased gradually, but this also brought ridership losses. The main way CTA saved money was through reductions in personnel, mainly by replacing two-man streetcars with buses. But the last of the old red cars ran on May 30, 1954, and the governing Chicago Transit Board did not expect to see any additional savings from the elimination of PCC streetcars.

Banfield noted:

The heads of CTA’s operating divisions reported to a general manager, who in turn reported to Gunlock. Gunlock and the general manager (Walter J. McCarter) together prepared the agenda for board meetings. Although the board played an active role in the determination of general policy, it was Gunlock and the manager who ran the organization.

The CTA rapid transit system had contracted about 25% by the mid-1950s, and wanted to extend service through the medians of the planned Northwest (Kennedy) and South (Dan Ryan) expressways. Shortly after Mayor Richard J. Daley took office in 1955, he asked Gunlock to prepare a “wish list” of potential new projects, so they could be prioritized, in the hope that new ways could be found to pay for them.

Chicago’s four major daily newspapers were in favor of subsidies, and so were most civic leaders. But the CTA was not universally liked by the public, especially by those who used it, which tended to undermine prospects for government aid, since opinions were divided.

It was into this mix that CA&E threw in the towel and offered to put the entire railroad up for sale.

Daley and Gunlock hoped to use this to their advantage. If the CTA could take over CA&E service, it was thought, this could win over crucial suburban support, resulting in government funding that could help transit in both the city and suburbs.

As we now know, things did not work out this way.

Mayor Daley had a good working relationship with Republican Governor William Stratton. They tried to help each other out politically by supporting each others projects in their respective “spheres of influence.”

However, while Stratton supported state funding to purchase the CA&E (reported price: $6m), and was willing to exempt the CTA from paying certain taxes and fees, he backed off on additional tax revenues for CTA once it became clear that DuPage and Kane County officials did not support it.

So while Daley, Gunlock, Stratton and even County Board President Dan Ryan Jr. were all on friendly terms in their discussions on this issue, and generally agreed on what to do, in the political climate of 1957, nothing could be done.

Banfield cites four main reasons for this failure to act in time to save the “Roarin’ Elgin,” which I will list in brief:

1. The “country towns”– that part of Cook County which lay outside of Chicago proper– opposed being taxed to support a transportation system which did not serve them directly.

2. Organized highway users were another important class of opponents. They had been trying for years to establish the principle that gasoline tax receipts should never be used for other than highway purposes.

3. The commuters of Kane and DuPage counites, although favoring measures to keep CA&E running, were very much opposed to paying a tax for that purpose. Politicians from those counties met with Governor Stratton one evening in the Executive Mansion to tell him that their constituents “just won’t sit still for a tax increase of any kind.” The state, they said, would be responsible for any suspension of passenger service and, therefore, it should provide any subsidy that might be needed.

The Governor expressed surprise. He had supposed that continuing CA&E service was a matter of great importance to Kane and DuPage counties. If it were so important, he said, surely the local people would be willing to contribute one cent a gallon toward it.

CTA supporters had hoped that Kane and DuPage counties’ interest in CA&E would lead them to support a plan for the general improvement of CTA. It was clear now that this was not the case and that, in fact, if it cost them a few dollars, the western suburbs would not support even that part of the plan which would serve only them.

Some observers believed that the Governor had interested himself in CTA only because he wanted to help the CA&E commuters. If this was so, his interest would probably now cease since it was apparent that the commuters were not really vitally concerned.

4. Many weekly newspapers in the more than eighty communities into which Chicago was divided opposed any kind of subsidy for CTA.

As a result, these legislative efforts failed. As a result, the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin was allowed to “temporarily” suspend passenger service at midday on July 3, 1957, stranding thousands of riders downtown, without a way to get home.

This served the short-term purposes of the railroad, the state, and the county, since it allowed quick removal of the CA&E tracks in the vicinity of the DesPlaines river, which was necessary for construction of a vital link in the Congress expressway connecting the city and suburban sections.

Within a short period of weeks, Cook County gave CA&E a check for $1.2m just for this short section of right-of-way between DesPlaines and First Avenues. Most probably, this amount was inflated to account for the $700k in losses from 1953 to 1957 that CA&E wanted to be reimbursed for.

Legislative efforts resumed in 1959, and again it seemed that CA&E was close to being saved. The railroad had been kept largely intact, and freight service continued. CTA anticipated a takeover, and even went so far as to put in a new track connection at the DesPlaines avenue terminal, where CA&E trains would exchange passengers with Congress “A” trains. You can see pictures of that unused connection here.

The 1961 CTA Annual Report includes an aerial view of the DesPlaines yard, and the completed track connection to what could have been a restored CA&E service is clearly visible– but never used. With the final abandonment of the railroad in 1961, all this was scrapped and removed, except for a short stretch of right-of-way that now serves CTA as a “tail track” for storing “L” cars.

All reminders of “what might have been.”

Mr. Banfield sums things up on page 271:

In the Transit Authority case, the Mayor, the Governor and the President of the County Board acted as agents of the affected interests in arranging the compromise; they did not try to impose a solution of their own upon these interests, and when the Governor found out that the compromise was not popular with his suburban supporters, he immediately dropped it.

In other words, even these notables could not muster enough “political influence” to save the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin. Much of the CA&E right-of-way west of Maywood has been preserved as the Illinois Prairie Path.

Fortunately, the lessons learned from its demise helped pave the way for saving the transit system we have today, which would not be possible without your tax dollars and mine.

-David Sadowski

PS- You will also find a very thorough and informative discussion of how McCormick Place came to be in this book. I recommend it.

Brand-new “flat door” cars 6003-6004 are shown to good advantage at the North Water Terminal in 1950. (Clark Equipment Co. Photo)

In this view, from the 1961 CTA annual Report, we see the western end of the DesPlaines terminal, and the relocated, never used CA&E tracks behind it.

Looking west from Halsted, CA&E 458 heads up a four car train of postwar units.

CA&E 318 at Glen Oak on a fantrip. According to Don’s Rail Photos, “318 was built by Jewett Car Co in 1914. It had steel sheating and was modernized in 1944. It was sold to Wisconsin Electric Raiway Historical Society in 1962. It was wrecked in transit and the parts were sold to IRM to restore 321.”

141 at Batavia Junction. CA&E purchased this car from the North Shore Line in 1946. According to Don’s Rail Photos, “141 was built by American Car Co in March 1910, #844, as Chicago &Milwaukee Electric 141. It was rebuilt in 1914 and retired in 1954.”

11 thoughts on “The CTA, the CA&E, and “Political Influence””

[…] As a result, it is perhaps the most important legacy of those earlier fairs. You can also read more about the genesis of McCormick Place in the book Political Influence by Edward C. Banfield, which we mentioned in an earlier post. […]

It’s important for information like what happened to the CA&E comes to light. About 2/3’s or more of what other individuals say regarding the folding of the CA&E is what someone thought happened and their personal reasons why. Over the years I’ve told both my employees and students, you can come up with 100 reasons why something happened or what the motivation of the people involved was. Then, when the people involved tell their motivation for doing what they did, it turns out to be the 101th reason no one thought of.

The truth is stranger than fiction, but fiction makes for better reading!

If CTA was going to be involved with running the CA&E, or offering any additional services really, they needed subsidies. By 1956, this was clear even to the Republican appointees to the Chicago Transit Board, such as Werner Schroeder. The State of Illinois was willing to purchase the railroad for $6m, which would have been a better deal overall than buying parts of the right-of-way piecemeal.

The question was what to do with it afterwards, and who was going to pay for it. When nobody came forward wanting to pay for it in the form of higher taxes, there was no alternative to abandonment. Even then, total abandonment was put off for two years, in the hopes that the legislature would act in 1959 in their next session. Nothing happened then either.

In the short run, the “temporary” cessation of service on July 3, 1957 served all the parties involved, except for the commuters. It was beneficial for the State and the County, since it expedited construction of the Congress expressway where it crosses the DesPlaines river.

It benefited the CA&E shareholders, since they got a pile of cash for selling that right-of-way.

Then, later, if CTA could have brought back any part of the service, it would have been a plus. As things worked out, the railroad got much of the blame for ending service due to the callous way they left thousands of riders stranded on July 3, 1957.

[…] interurban. Unfortunately, no funding to operate such a service was forthcoming (see our article The CTA, the CA&E, and “Political Influence”, February 18) and the CA&E was abandoned without replacement. This plan, while stillborn, may […]

[…] in 1906, there was also one later operation at the 1948-49 Chicago Railroad Fair. As we discussed in an earlier post, the success of this fair is widely regarded as having led to the creation of McCormick Place on […]

Ill. Gov. Willie Stratton had “bigger fish to fry” than the “Roar’in Elgin’s” looming threatened abandonment in the summer of 1956 with the statewide scandal of his State Comptroller Orville E. Hodge, fellow Republican from Granite City who was caught by a Chicago Daily News reporter Geo. Thiem , embezzling the state treasury out of what was found to be $650,000.00 and was later speculated to be as much as $2,500.000.00 for a new house, 4 new automobiles, extravagant winter apartment in FL. and a life style of “Royal proportions” ! Hodge colluded with the President of the Southmoor National Bank and Trust Co. on south Stony Island Ave.and 68th Street. where 6 State checks were cashed along with other financial transactions which had been rigged. I was quite aware of the scandal at the time because my grandmother was a account holder at that bank and also had an auto loan at the institution. There was fear at the time that the FDIC would close the bank due to the uncertainty of how much money had “in fact been embezzled” ! Stratton’s regime in Springfield at that time from 56 to 60 had been interpreted as “corrupt” and riddled with party “hacks” since Hodge himself had a covetous eye on the Governor’s Mansion and he really didn’t care who he took down in his climb up the ladder. The Republican party leaders in DuPage and Kane Counties which at that time were rural Ag regions “would never” back any new tax’s on their constituents to support a stock company railroad or otherwise, especially in an election year (1956) and their advice to “Wille lump-lump” was to clean up that mess in Springfield before November because they don’t want to “take a bath” at the Poll’s !”Guilt by association stained Stratton’s watch, and he spent the rest of his days trying to “vindicate his administration in the eyes of history” ! I liked Bill Stratton, I met him casually a couple times back in the Seventies up on the north side at different restaurants and talked to him about that Hodge incident and about the CA&E and got this general drift of his position from him and about the terrible timing and his problems with his administration. I have always held the belief had in not been for “Hodge “the ” Third Rail ” might have had a 1000 % better chance to ride out the storm.

Very interesting read. It is interesting all of the “home stories” and accounts of the demise of the CA&E. I heard long stories about a Chicago alderman on the west side who refused to provide any help to the CA&E when the Garfield Park line came down. He complained about “that weak trolley line that hadn’t paid a power bill between Des Plaines and Halsted since 1946”
Other stories about an CA&E Engineer saying that they refused to run on the streets for 4 years because their brakes weren’t designed for traffic stopping.
Another story was that Mayor Daley’s only interest in the CA&E was to get more funding into the CTA, that he would have moved to drop the CA&E at his first opportunity. He loved the union jobs expressway building brought into the city, but heavily resented the move to the suburbs by people working in Chicago. His many attempts to pass a “head tax” on non-residents working in the city reflected that resentment.
One of many stories I heard was from a former (now dead) CNW employee who talked about some back office discussions on what they were going to do if the state actually bought CA&E and what would happen to their service on the Geneva Sub. He said there wasn’t a coincidence between the status of the CA&E and the acquisition of the Pullman bi-levels. Of course I have absolutely no way to prove it.
I have looked at some of the high level financials of the CA&E and it was clear that after the 1946 motorman’s strike, there was a clear inability of the railroad to recover much more than their operational costs. They desperately needed a recapitalization to facilitate replacement of their rolling stock, capital that couldn’t be raised privately by any means. Devoid of the capital subsidy of Midland Utilities due to the new 1932 law that separated them, and with franchise agreements expiring on their antiquated power houses, they simply consumed their assets for the next 25 years.
An oldtimer that lived in rural Wheaton said her kids used to run down to the CA&E/Jewell Road crossing and flag a train to reach Wheaton High School downtown for school every morning.
Personally, I remember exploring the ROW in 1975 before many of the current amenities of the Prairie Path were created. Many ties were still in the ground west of County Farm Road. There is still rail sticking up out of the ground today west of Carleton and Childs Streets today. Climbing down that embankment to cross the EJ&E on the Elgin Branch!! The viaduct under the CGW at Prince Crossing, (with a foot of water in it year round) only to be ripped out by the CNW before they abandoned it.
All the mosquito bites retracing the Geneva Branch and finding a flood had flipped one of the pylons into the West Branch DuPage River in Winfield.
The platforms for Lakewood Station were still there, but weed choked. The original route under IL-56 was still used until Mr. Mc Cormick bought the ROW and made them move it so St James Farm was contiguous. I still remember him yelling at me from his International tractor one day.
I have a stock certificate for the CA&E and Illinois Traction framed on the wall to remind me what once was.